


The Deep Breath Before the Plunge

by Escalus



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Erica Reyes Lives, Erica Reyes-centric, F/M, Post-Episode: s03e03 Fireflies, The Hale Pack - Freeform, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:13:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23149054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Escalus/pseuds/Escalus
Summary: Erica Reyes had survived epilepsy, overprotective parents, bullying, humiliation, a kanima, and deranged hunters.   She could survive an Alpha Pack as well.   Not only would she survive, she would take life by the throat with her teeth.Erica lives, and what happens after.
Relationships: Cora Hale & Erica Reyes, Derek Hale & Erica Reyes, Erica Reyes & Stiles Stilinski, Isaac Lahey & Erica Reyes, Scott McCall & Erica Reyes, Vernon Boyd/Erica Reyes
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40





	The Deep Breath Before the Plunge

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place after _Fireflies_ (3x03) and before _Unleashed_ (3x04) in an alternate universe.

**_Pippin:_ It's so quiet.**

**_Gandalf:_ It's the deep breath before the plunge.**

**_Pippin:_ I don't want to be in a battle. But waiting on the edge of one I can't escape is even worse.**

**J. R. R. Tolkien, _The Lord of the Rings._**

Surviving the Alpha Pack had been a near thing.

Three times the full moon had shone in the sky, but she had been locked away from its light. Erica had felt the urge to challenge one of her captors each time that happened, felt it dig beneath her nails. Her agitation had always managed to put most of its focus on Kali. The first time it happened she had had no idea why her ire would target the female alpha, but by the end of their captivity, she knew exactly why. 

She was jealous. 

Kali appeared to be almost everything Erica had ever wanted to be. Erica had only managed to glimpse the inner workings of the Alpha Pack, but that had been enough. Clearly, Kali did as she wanted most of the time. She terrorized the twins. She dominated Ennis. Only the Demon Wolf could stand against her, and, more often than not, he chose to allow her to pursue her own interests at her own pace. 

Erica wanted that life so badly she could taste it. She didn’t want to kill people; she wasn’t bloodthirsty like the female alpha. She wanted something more than the power; she wanted the respect. 

There had been one moon – the full moon before Cora had joined them in their makeshift jail cell – when Erika had actually stood up and challenged Kali. At Erica’s growl, a faint smirk had played about the alpha’s lips yet there had also been underlying recognition and granted permission. Before they could settle the matter, Boyd had tackled Erica and held her down until the disappointed alpha wandered off.

She hadn’t talked to Boyd for days afterward, yet Boyd hadn’t cared. She forgave him eventually.

**~*~**

She barely remembered their rescue. Before the vault’s wall began to shake with the power of Derek’s fist, the night had like the others, a fever dream that left her listless and irritable at the same time. Each full moon they spent locked in that vault had felt as if she was starving with food just out of reach, as if she was thirsty, with no water insight. It had made her weak and enraged at the same time.

When the wall collapsed, the thing she remembered most was the scent of Derek and Scott. In science class, Mr. Harris had mentioned that of all the senses, smell triggered memories the most deeply. She remembered Boyd growling and Cora warning her brother more clearly, most likely because she had bonded with them after months in a bank safe. Cora had spent the least amount of time confined, so she was still able to talk until the moonlight came in through the open door, flooding their cell and taking all rational thought with it.

The next thing she knew, she had woke up in a bed. While feeling warm, safe, and healed, she still felt exhausted in every corner of her body. The moon’s rage having drained her both mentally and physically. She was too tired even to worry that she didn’t know where she was.

“Good morning.” Isaac hovered just within her line of sight. He watched her with half-a-smile on his face. 

The words came out before she had time to stop them. “Where’s Boyd?”

“Room next door. He insisted.”

“Where’s Cora?” 

“The room beyond that.”

“Where are we?” 

Isaac chuckled as if the answer was funny. “Derek’s new home.” 

Erica pulled herself into an upright position. “He finally got tired of an abandoned train station? Alert the media.” She wasn’t being fair to Derek; he had selected that location for its security, not for its amenities, and certainly not for its aesthetics. 

“We were safe … well, safer than we had been. It was time.”

“Tell me.”

Isaac charted out what had happened to him since Boyd and Erica had fled. He revealed that Gerard had murdered Matt Daehler and taken control of Jackson in order to gain the Bite (and the power of an alpha) for himself in order to cure his cancer. He told of the old hunter’s defeat at the hands of Scott, who had switched out his cancer medication for mountain ash pills.

Erica smiled at that. She hoped it hurt every bit the way it sounded like it would.

Isaac went on, apologetically, explaining that Derek, Peter and he had searched for her and Boyd all summer, ever since they realized that the Alpha Pack had taken them. He also briefly touched on how they had only found them as part of a trap. Deucalion had used all three of Derek’s betas to lure the alpha into a trap.

“Who’s Peter?” Erica said finally.

“Derek’s uncle.” 

“Wait, he’s supposed to be dead.” Derek had explained that he had taken the alpha power from his uncle because he had killed all those people at the start of the year, including Derek’s sister Laura. 

“Apparently, he used Lydia Martin to resurrect himself. Don’t ask me how.”

“Oh.” 

“Yeah. I don’t like him, either.”

Erica tiptoed around the elephant in the room. “How is Derek?”

“Derek’s Derek.” 

Erica leaned back onto the bed. “God, I’m starving.”

Isaac brightened up immediately. “That I can help with. We have Chinese food. Do you want me to bring it …?”

“No. No.” Erica pushed herself up. “I’ve been locked in a single room for far too long.”

**~*~**

The next day, she and Boyd had taken up positions on the couch. She felt stronger when he was physically near to her, and he said that he felt the same. Cora had dragged a chair across the room and pulled it up next to them both. On the coffee table before them were the scattered remains of their lunch.

Derek came in through the front door; this was the first time they had seen him since being rescued.

“Where have you been?” Cora demanded. Her voice carried a note of frustration. She didn’t speak that way to Erica or Boyd.

“I had things to do.” Derek came to rest in the middle of the room, far away from any chair. His posture showed his discomfort.

“Obviously.” Cora slid out of her own chair to stand before him. The sweater she had stolen from his clothes dwarfed her frame.

Erica found her hands trembling, so she slid them under her thighs. She didn’t know what to say or how to react, and she hated that. She felt ashamed, and she hated that even more.

It should have been easy to have left. Derek had not only promised her health, but he had promised her that everything else would get so much better. And everything had gotten better -- for about three days.

To her, Derek had severely undersold the rest of the deal with the Bite. Hunters weren’t just people for whom she’d have to keep an eye out. They ended up being everywhere: filming her at school, forcing her to hang out in dirty abandoned buildings, chasing her through the woods. Even before she was captured, she had lain awake at night, worried by shadows. 

And if that hadn’t been the most fun she had ever had, she also had to deal with Big Asshole on Campus, Jackson Whittemore, becoming a killer lizard monster. She had given Derek every chance to show he knew what he was doing, but the alpha hadn’t. Boyd had come up with the idea to leave, not because they hated Derek, but because even a sixteen-year-old without her driver’s license could tell that they were going to lose. 

She left because she wasn’t going to die for Derek’s burnt-out house in the woods or his family in the graveyard.

Yet, it hadn’t occurred to her to betray him even when strung up by that old bastard in the Argent Horror Basement. Gerard had explained to Stiles that the instinct to protect their alpha was too strong, but she felt it was more than that. Sure, she was angry that he had promised her things and failed to deliver, but she didn’t want to see him dead. She didn’t even want to see him hurt. 

“I went to check on that teacher.”

“Which teacher?” Boyd asked.

Derek, as he was wont to do, shut right up, like an eight-year-old experiencing his first crush.

“For fuck’s sake!” Erica spat in frustration before remembering who Derek was. “Sorry.”

“No. It’s fine.” Derek said slowly. “We steered you three into the boiler room at the high school because we thought no one would be there. We were wrong. She knows about us now, so I went to make sure she was okay.” 

It had taken Derek so much of an effort to explain himself that all three of them just stared at him in wonder.

“We need to talk.” He continued.

Erica clenched her hands. “Okay.”

“We have to think of something to tell your parents.” Derek crossed his arms. “Something that will convince them not to get the police involved.”

Boyd snorted. “Yeah, we figured that much out. You have any actual ideas?”

Hurt flashed on Derek’s face. “I know I did some things wrong.”

“No shit.” Erica pushed past her fear. He needed to hear this. “You used us. You told us just enough to make us say yes.”

Derek clenched his jaw so tight he might have snapped it. “I told –“

“You did more than tell me. Or did you slide your hand up Boyd’s leg as well?”

Boyd tried to take her hand to calm her down, which she appreciated, but she snatched it away from him. Cora turned to Derek, a look of disbelief on her face. 

“You sent us to kill Lydia, knowing that would put us on the Argents’ radar. Imagine my surprise, when the alphas told us what happens to blue-eyed omegas!” 

Derek looked down at the ground and then looked up. “I did do that.”

“Gerard tortured us.” Erica burst into tears. She hadn’t wanted to – she hadn’t planned to – but she did. “And then when we finally got away, the alphas found us. Isaac told me you knew they were coming. You knew it, but you hid it from us.”

“I thought I had more time.”

“You needed soldiers for your war.” Erica wiped at her eyes. “And we were the gullible fools lining up for it. You bought this place. You’re rich. You could have gone anywhere, but fighting them was more important.”

The alpha stood straight up. He didn’t say anything. It infuriated her. Maybe he thought it was somehow mature not to react or maybe he simply didn’t care. She wanted her feelings to be more important than Derek getting to look like a badass. 

“Answer me!”

“You didn’t ask a question.” Derek replied evenly. “Everything you said is true, but there is no way I can change that now. What I can do is help you get as much of your lives back as I can and protect you as much as I can from the alphas. I think that’s more important than going over every mistake I made. Don’t you?”

Erica’s fury died down but it didn’t go out completely. For a second, she saw something in Derek’s eyes – something that made her believe that he understood.

“After we survive this, you want to go a few rounds with me? We can do that. You want to never see me again? We can do that too. But right now, we need to focus on survival.”

**~*~**

Explaining everything to her parents ended up being both easier and more complicated than she thought; she told the truth but not all of it. She explained to them that she became a werewolf; she showed them the change. She told them that she sought the Bite to cure her epilepsy, and they certainly understood the appeal. She left out the part where certain venoms could cause her to have a seizure again; she would never see a kanima again, or so she most fervently hoped. She implied that she spent her missing months learning control over her new nature, so she wouldn’t hurt people by accident. She explained that she had an anchor, and she introduced to them to Boyd. She explained that she has an alpha, and she introduced them to Derek.

Her parents were torn between relief, curiosity, and reluctance. They had always sought to protect her due to her illness, but after a few demonstrations, they became less frightened of her as a werewolf. They wanted her to live. 

That meant she didn’t tell them about the Alpha Pack or whomever was sacrificing people. If they learned about that or about werewolf hunters, they would never let her leave the house again. But it worked.

When she went back to school, she had a new set of challenges to face. She would have to repeat sophomore year. She had missed months of school and the final exams. She hadn’t gone to summer school. At least Boyd would be with her. 

Aiden and Ethan prowled the hallways like the apex predators they were. Erica seethed as she passed them but she kept it as concealed as she could. Ethan regarded her calmly, and if she hadn’t wanted to claws his eyes out, she would have appreciated that. Aiden, however, smirked at her, when he caught her looking at him. Even when he was flirting badly with Lydia Martin. 

By lunchtime, she was seething and not a single one of the lust-filled faces of the human high school boys made her feel any better about herself. She didn’t need _that_ anymore. She needed someone to look at her in fear or respect. 

Either or both, just as good.

Erica slid into the seat opposite Scott McCall. He was sitting at the lunch table alone, but from the look on his face, she hadn’t been the people he was expecting.

“Hey, Erica,” he said, overcoming his momentary confusion with a dopey smile. “Nice to see you in school.”

“Who’re you waiting for?”

“Everyone. My class is closest, so I get here first.”

“Everyone?”

“Stiles, Allison, Isaac, and Lydia.”

“Lydia’s not too busy with Thing Number One?” 

Scott watched her before replying, his face scrunching up and then relaxing, which means he had figured something out. “He’s flirting. It’s not like they’re dating or anything.”

“Yeah. Who would want to date some asshole who’s been trying to kill the closest thing you have to friends?”

Scott held the pause just long enough so Erica could watch the gears grind in his head. “Everyone did things wrong, Erica. And, not that it’s any of your business, but Allison and I aren’t dating anymore.”

“I heard.” She dragged the word out. “It sucks, doesn’t it?”

Scott didn’t answer. He sat there with his sandwich in his hand.

“It has to suck even more to find out you betrayed your pack for her and she dumped you anyway.”

“I didn’t betray anyone.” Scott deliberately took a bite of his sandwich.

“You didn’t join our pack so you could give information to Gerard?”

“No.” Scott said it firmly, but he wasn’t angry. “I lied to Derek to save Jackson’s life, just like I lied to Gerard to save my mother’s life.”

“That makes it okay?”

Scott looked her right in the face. “I wasn’t the person running around demanding a body count. That was Gerard _and_ Derek. Sometimes you have to lie to stop the bad guys.”

It hadn’t ever occurred to Erica that Scott might think of Derek and his pack in the same way that he would think of Gerard and his hunters. She tapped her finger nails on the table as she tried to think of a snappy comeback. 

“I guess you want me to leave.”

“No.” Scott said it quickly. “I don’t want you to leave. I also don’t want you to make trouble when the others get here. Gerard can’t hurt anyone anymore, Derek isn’t trying to kill anyone anymore, and I don’t think you are, either.”

Erica stood up. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” She stalked away.

**~*~**

She didn’t think she was _that_ angry until later on in the day. Scott had meant that the trouble between them was over, but Erica wasn’t going to let that happen. 

She found herself snapping pencil lead throughout fifth period. She wouldn’t see Boyd again until after school was out, but she found herself listening intently for his heart beat. If he hadn’t been in range, there would have been hell to pay.

Erica hadn’t quite convinced herself that wouldn’t have been an entirely good idea. She’d love the chance to take her anger out on someone. 

It turned out she would get the chance. She walked into the girls’ locker room between classes and came face to face with Allison Argent. Allison and Lydia had been heading out of the locker room talking about something or other, and Erica had been focusing so much on Boyd’s heartbeat that she didn’t hear them.

Their eyes locked, not a foot from each other. Neither said anything for a moment, for what was there to say?

On the other hand, Erica had something to do, and she did it with her fists. In a flash, Allison was on her ass. That pretty face was going to sport quite a bruise. 

Lydia squawked in surprise. “What the hell?”

Erica stood over the downed hunter. No matter what else happened, this felt good.

Allison got to her feet with Lydia’s help. “That was your one free shot.” 

All teeth, Erica smiled at her. “Oh, I think I could get a few more.” 

“Do you?” 

Erica lunged again, but this time, Allison was ready for her. Erica snagged Allison’s jacket, but Allison lifted her leg and brought her foot down on Erica’s knee, hyperextending it. Pain shot through her, but more importantly, she staggered around, trying to get her balance back, as Lydia scampered away from the fight. 

Allison wasn’t done. She grabbed Erica by the shoulders and by using Erica’s own weight and the unsteadiness of her already healing leg, threw her headfirst into the lockers. It put a sizable dent on the locker and rattled Erica’s skull.

“No.” Allison picked up Erica up by her hair. “You’re done. I know what I did. I know what I did wrong, and you have a right to be angry about it. You got one shot, and that’s all you get.”

Woozily, Erica got to her hands and knees.

“But I also know what you did, Erica.” Allison voice was close to her. “You tried to kill Lydia. You tried to kill Jackson. You and Isaac attacked me and Stiles while trying to kill Lydia and Jackson.”

Erica yanked herself out of Allison’s grip. 

“If you had succeeded in killing either of them, you and I would be having a very different conversation right now.” Allison took a step back. “You want to hate me, you can keep on hating me. I don’t want to hate you, but I’m not going to let you come at me or any of my friends. I know you were held captive for months, but you don’t get to take it out on me.”

“Don’t feel sorry for me,” Erica gritted out straightening her clothes. 

“I don’t. But I’m not going to let the Alpha Pack kill you either.”

They stared at each other. Erica watched the determination set in Allison’s eyes. She matched it, at least she hoped to match it. She had wanted to become as beautiful as Lydia Martin, and she had. She wanted to be as powerful as Kali and Allison, and she would.

“You expect us to be friends now?”

Allison laughed coldly. “We’re never going to be friends. Just because I’m too big a person to kick your ass for trying to steal Scott from me doesn’t mean I forgot what you did when you got the tiniest bit of power. On the other hand, I’d rather have you for an uncomfortable neighbor than a bunch of blood-crazed alphas.”

“Fine.” Erica laughed back at her.

“Okay, if we’re all done being violent,” Lydia interrupted, “can we go somewhere else and talk like civilized girls?”

Allison and Erica turned to her in unison.

“Oh, please. This is nothing compared to what goes in the popular girl school cliques. You’ll be fast friends by senior year.” She walked between them and out the door. 

Erica looked at Allison. Allison looked at Erica. They followed her out.

**~*~**

When she left school that day, her first day of school, Stiles was waiting for her by his jeep.

“Hello, Stiles,” she cooed. She had calmed down … enough. She had made it through her remaining classes. “What can I do for you?”

“You can stop being a bitch.” He pointed at her and then waved his hands in frustration, cutting through the air with a gesture. “You can stop that.”

Erica was taken aback. She didn’t expect this from Stiles, of all people. 

“I get it. I do get it. You were kidnapped and then you got free and then you were kidnapped again and probably treated very shittily for months. I get it.” Stiles’ took a step toward her in his enthusiasm. “And then you come back and all this isn’t finished yet, there’s crazy alphas and someone ritually sacrificing random people and it’s all too much.”

“I don’t care about the ritual sacrifices, Stiles.”

“Well, you should! You all should. But you’re too busy growling at each other to listen to me or to anyone else.”

Erica crossed her arms. It wasn’t true. Stiles only thought it was true, because his fragile ego had been unexplainably tied to his ability to make others do what he wanted. 

“Whatever.” He rolled his eyes. “You don’t get to go at Scott like that.”

“Like what?”

“He didn’t work with Gerard to win Allison back, and you know it.” The finger was back in her face. 

She knocked it away. “I do, do I?”

“If Scott had betrayed anyone to the Crypt Keeper, you’d all be dead by now, or his Betas, and wouldn’t that be fun? He could have done it at any time, and I would have been right there with him.”

Erica felt hurt by that. Even though they could be on opposite sides, she always believed he felt something for her. “No, you wouldn’t have. You tried to rescue us.”

“Yeah, I did. I’m impulsive like that.” He grimaced at her. “And then, as I lay there and had the poster boy for geriatric violence beating the shit out of me, I remembered why I was in this position: you.”

“Me?”

“Your pack. Your pack murdered a whole bunch of people and brought this asshole into town. Yeah, Psycho-Katie burned down the Hale House. You know what civilized people do when that happens? They call the police. I know this, because my father happens to be the sheriff!”

“We didn’t kill anyone!” 

“So, Murder Uncle is not a member of your pack?”

Erica was taken aback once again. As far as she could tell, yes he was. She hadn’t put much thought into it. 

“You see, you might yelp at Scott, but he’ll do more for you than I will. Because you all seem to dig that murder thing an awful lot. You tried to kill the girl I love half-a-dozen times.”

“It was twice, and you don’t love her.” Erica shot back, and she was delighted by the look of hurt on his face now. “You don’t know if you love her, and you won’t know until you actually go on a date with her.”

“I did … no, that’s not what this is about. The fact is, I remember the Reign of the Were-Puppies. I remember what you did, and why you did it, and I am – I was prepared – to let bygones be bygones, because you’ve spent months locked in a room. We all did. Scott and I came to help you, and even Mr. Chris “Ever See a Rabid Dog?” Argent came to help you.”

“So?”

“In the spirit of fair play, you punched Allison. Everyone can see the bruise you put on her. It’s a wonder you didn’t break her jaw. What do you think her father’s response is going to be?” 

“She …” Erica trailed off. Yes, she had been trapped for months as a prisoner. Time had felt like it had stopped, but it hadn’t. Not for her but also not for anyone else.

“I’m sorry that you were bullied before you were Bitten, Erica.” Stiles said, and he meant it. She could tell. “I’m sorry that I didn’t pay enough attention to you back then. I’m sorry that you were a victim of Allison, and Gerard, and the Alphas, but you’re not a victim anymore. Now, you’re the one acting like a bully.”

Part of her wanted to smack him. Part of her wanted to deny it. Part of her couldn’t. “I’ll play nice with the puppy and his bitch.”

“His name is Scott. He gets a name, because he’s been nearly killed three times in the last six months, mostly because he tried to help you and your pack. But you don’t have to play nice with any of us. Just don’t pick fights when there’s a blind egomaniac running about.”

“Is that all, Dad?”

Stiles sighed and suddenly, the playful and anxious whirlwind that is Stiles vanished, replaced by someone who was sad and maybe a little tired. “I’m not … I just want to be your friend, okay? I could use as many as I can get. I thought maybe you did, too.”

Erica opened her mouth to snap out an insult. Her first instinct was to reject him, but then she paused. Why was she rejecting him? He had tried to help her, and so did Scott. Everything else was true as well. She wasn’t a victim anymore, which meant she didn’t have to be frightened by anyone, especially by someone who wanted to be her friend. And she did want friends. 

“Okay. But I’m not apologizing.”

He flashed her a smile. “I wouldn’t dream of asking you to.”

**~*~**

Boyd was waiting for her when she got back to the loft. She went there after school so she wouldn’t be home alone. Boyd or Derek would then take her home once her parents got home from work. They would do their homework together.

He came over and placed a kiss on her temple. Erica knew immediately that he had heard of the fight, but he wouldn’t say anything. He wouldn’t judge. He would be there for her, however she needed him. 

She smiled. “Hi there.”

“Long day?”

“I haven’t been to school since March. I feel like I’m in my late forties.” She laughed, because right now, she didn’t feel like that. 

“Well, old woman, let’s do our homework.” Somehow he had gotten here before her and pulled a couple of drinks from the kitchen.

They sat there and did their homework together. She helped him with Ms. Blake’s questions about Heart of Darkness and he helped her with her algebra. She felt like a normal werewolf for about forty-five minutes. 

“Boyd?”

“Yeah?” He didn’t look up from his paper. 

“Do you think I’m a good person?”

“I don’t think that’s a fair question.” He put down his pencil and sought out her eyes. “It implies that there is some grand standard to which you can be prepared and graded like … like eggs. People aren’t all the same, not even a little bit. But you can know them, and you can know there are people who are just scum and there are people who you can trust to help you no matter what. I trust you. No matter what. And I think that the people around here, once they get to know you, they’ll trust you, too.”

Erica smiled at him.

“I also think you’re ornery. I think you’ve got a mean streak a mile wide. But you save that mean streak for people who hurt you and the people you care about. That certainly doesn’t make you a bad person.”

She smiled at him again, this time with fangs.

“That’s my girl. We’re going to make it, Erica.”

He went back to his English homework. She didn’t stop smiling. Upstairs, she heard the faint sounds of Isaac listening to his headphones. She heard Derek and Cora bitching at each other as they rode up the elevator. Right at this instant, right at this point of time, everything was better.

“I think we will, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> I welcome all criticism as long as it is focused on the characters, plot, cultural sensitivity, and writing of this story. Please don't bring in my other works or commentary. I especially appreciate having typos and grammatical mistakes pointed out.


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